"Shortly, the Oscar fate of hundreds of feature and short documentary hopefuls will be decided during what is known as "preliminary voting" (December 8-12), when the 736 documentary branch members give each film they've seen a numbered score. This will yield the shortlist of 15, from which they will rank those films on a preferential ballot. The shortlist announcement will come on December 16. The whole Academy will vote on the final five. But only those who have seen all five can vote."
"The Sundance Film Festival reliably delivers documentary Oscar contenders every year, often the lion's share of Best Documentary Feature nominees. Last year, all final five contenders - "Sugarcane," "Porcelain War," "Black Box Diaries," "Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat," and the ultimate winner "No Other Land" - premiered at the festival, as have past Oscar winners like "American Factory," "Navalny," and "20 Feet from Stardom.""
Preliminary voting by the documentary branch (December 8-12) assigns numbered scores to films seen by 736 members, producing a 15-film shortlist. The branch ranks those 15 on a preferential ballot; the shortlist is announced December 16. The entire Academy votes on the final five nominees, but only members who have seen all five can cast ballots. Screening at Sundance significantly increases a documentary's awards profile, especially with a prize win, and has produced many recent nominees and winners. Securing a distributor is increasingly difficult, yet distributor support provides the resources and runway needed for an awards campaign.
Read at IndieWire
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]